> >... It's that good-natured relativism that makes his books at once so > >maddening and yet so necessary; it's also what makes talking to him so > >perplexing: Diamond sees the best in so many people, it's almost impossible > >not to like him. ... Carl: > Strange, I don't find it difficult at all.
I don't think the issue is whether one likes or dislikes Diamond. It's his work that's relevant. I like his first big book, GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL, though I have some criticisms. His book on COLLAPSE, on the other hand, is another matter. I haven't read it, but just from his own summaries (and the exhibit based on it at the L.A. Museum of Natural History), it's nowhere as good as GG&S. Maybe success went to his head, but again, that's not what's important. His THIRD CHIMPANZEE has a lot of useful short essays. One of them argues that the distinctions between human races is not a result of the standard Darwinian random variation plus selction, but instead is due to sexual selection... -- Jim Devine "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
